New Tracking System At Ports Soon
The ministry of surface transport is considering installing a state-of-the-art traffic management system in select major ports to end the chronic problem of vessel congestion.
Each system will cost about $30 million (Rs 118 crore) and will enable port authorities to plan the loading and unloading schedule of vessels several days in advance by automatically tracking their movements a few hundred nautical miles from the port.
The tracking mechanism will be akin to the air traffic control system in airports, where the approach and take-off of several aircraft are tracked every second, and will integrate ground-based radars with satellite navigation to give real-time information about the status of each approaching vessel.
Sources said the ministry was involved in preliminary negotiations with several international suppliers of the vessel management equipment, after which it will call for tenders.
Initially, the Gujarat Pipapav port is likely to be equipped with the new system. Depending upon its success, it may be installed at other major ports like Mumbai, JNPT, Kandla, Tuticorin, Visakhapatnam and Paradip.
Sources said the new system would reduce the clearance time of vessels by several days as schedule management would be fully automated. Planning could be done and fed into the system so that heavy cargo clearance was kept for certain days and light cargo carriers were not delayed due to the loading and unloading of heavy cargo.
They said the system would take care of the ports security aspects by automatically tracking the movement of every ship that entered the harbour.
At present, 12 major ports handle around 14,000 vessels per year, which is abysmally low compared to global standards.
The Mumbai port the busiest in the country handled 2,627 vessels in 1996-97. The Singapore port, which has the vessel management system, handled 9,000 vessels.
Despite being situated at a strategic point between Europe and the Far East, many ships avoid coming to India because of the unusually long down time needed to berth and load and unload cargo.
The ministry will, however, control the vessel management system and indications are that the government will bring in the system as its share of equity in future port projects.